Boom in the sales of the MinDig TV compatible receivers last year - significant improvement in the reception conditions in Budapest as of mid-February

67% growth was recorded in the sales of DVB-T MPEG-4 compatible receivers in December compared with the previous month. Parallel to this, the average prices for these receivers are halved in the course of 2009. In the end of December, 4.4% of the Hungarian households had DVB-T ready receiver at home. Comparing with the number of terrestrial households, this ratio is even higher, at 19.7%. As the Hungarian Army permitted the partial cancellation of the present power restrictions in Budapest, enabling much better reception conditions for the citizens living in the Budapest area. Antenna Hungária Group continues the network rollout with the launch of 4 new digital sites, resulting the increase of the population coverage to 95% by the end of the year.

Efficient Christmas campaign, the cumulated sales of DVB-T MPEG4 equipment to end of 2009 represents 19.7% of the terrestrial households

Antenna Hungária launched a campaign providing two additional channels for one year as a gift in case of purchasing a MinDig TV stickered set-top-box in December. The DVB-T MPEG-4 HD set-top-box sales grew by 91% in December compared with the previous month, this performance was even better, than the DVB-T MPEG-4 flat-screen television sales, which proves the campaign’s success.

„The number of sold DVB-T MPEG-4 compatible equipments more than tripled in the past months due to the launch of the promotion campaign in September and due to the decreasing prices. We recorded more than 50% price decrease of the DVB-T MPEG-4 receivers in the course of 2009. After 6 months of the line-up finalization, the free-to-air digital platform has attracted ten thousands of new users only in December, which is a self explanatory result, particularly in the light of the recent monthly report of the National Communications Authority, which showed a decrease in the number of TV-subscriptions by almost ten thousand. I’m quite confident, that after the first successful year, the boom in the popularity of the free-to-air MinDig TV service will continue in 2010. This process is also boosted by the flat-screen TV distributors, as today we can hardly find LCD or plasma TV-set marketed in Hungary without the necessary DVB-T MPEG-4 tuner for the reception of the MinDig TV service” – emphasized Jean-Francois Fenech, CEO of Antenna Hungária.

Antenna Hungária uses the monthly sales statistics of GfK Hungária Kft. for the compilation of its monthly research. According to the very recent sales figures as of end of December, around 4.4% of the Hungarian households had DVB-T MPEG-4 receiver (set-top-box, integrated TV set, PCI card or USB stick) at home, the majority of them being flat-screen integrated TV sets. Comparing with the number of terrestrial households, this ratio is even higher, at 19.7%.

Significant improvement in the reception conditions in Budapest as of mid-February, 95% population coverage by the end of 2010

Great achievement, that the Hungarian Army permitted the partial cancellation of the present power restrictions in Budapest, which results that the Effective Radiated Power (ERP) will increase significantly from 6.3 and 10 kW to 40 kW in both multiplexes in the Budapest area, enabling much better reception conditions for the citizens living in the capital.

Antenna Hungária Group continues the network rollout in 2010 with the launch of 4 new digital sites (Sopron, Gerecse, Komádi, Csávoly) resulting the increase of the population coverage to 95% by the end of the year.

Regarding the promotion activity, a new ’Winter Olympics’ campaign was launched offering the programs of the Winter Olympic Games in HD-quality without a subscription fee. Additionally, in cooperation with Credigen Bank, a favourable 0% THM credit construction is available for the MinDig TV stickered TechniSat HDT4 set-top-box in Media Markt stores in February.

Antenna Hungária

Further information:
Antenna Hungária
András Tóth
Head of Communication
Tel: +36 1 464-2110
E-mail: totha [kukac] ahrt [pont] hu

About MinDig TV (www.mindigtv.hu)